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Bootup Garage

What Is It

The Bootup Garage is a new space dedicated to startup founders and technology hackers. Our goal is to create a space for startup founders to come together and work in an open and supportive environment, encouraging collaboration and networking that will improve and accelerate the development of new technology companies in British Columbia.

This isn’t just a workspace – it’s a club dedicated to helping founders accelerate their work. In addition to providing a space to talk and hack, we’re rounding up all of the mentors and investors we’ve worked with over the past two years, and convinced them to each hold regular office hours in the Garage, during which you can tap into their experience and networks to improve your project and accelerate your work. Check out the schedule of mentor office hours, and if you’re a Garage Member, you can schedule a chat with any of them.

We’re also working hard on a new series of seminars that we’ll be conducting in the Garage space, free to all members, on valuable topics for founders ranging from Lean Startup best practices to networking skills. Check our page for the Startup Seminar Series, with more details coming soon.

Where Is It

The Bootup Garage will initially be located in the Flack Block at 163 West Hastings, on the second floor alongside the Bootup Entrepreneurial Society, Strutta, Mozilla, Contractually, AdHack, Foodtree, and several local startups that have successfully reached a later stage of development and funding. This location will serve as a pilot project – to demonstrate the need for such a collaborative workspace within the community, and to demonstrate the value of this space and its programmes as the first phase in the acceleration of new ventures.

Where Do I Sign Up?

In order to use the space you become a member. Membership is $99 per person, per month.

We have a minimal application process – it’s important to ensure that the space is used by people who are building startups and hacking on new ideas. It’s not for doing contract or service work.

And please swing by and check it out anytime, we have desks ready and we’re in the space available to talk.

Keep It Going

We need your support! Even if you don’t plan to use the space, you can support our work and help us to continue putting everything we can into helping founders build successful companies.

We want to engage the startup ecosystem across Canada, so whether you’re in Vancouver, Montreal, or Iqualit, if you feel passionately that entrepreneurs and startups are good for our economy and our country, get involved through one of these options:

If you’re a company, grab a corporate sponsorship. This is $1,000 annually and gets you featured in our space and the gratitude of our founders.

If you’re an individual, sign up for a Supporting Membership. You’re welcome to come use the space, and you get the same benefits as an active Member if you like, but do this if you don’t plan to be an active participant so we have accurate numbers.

If you don’t wish to contribute financially but think we’re onto something here, please let us know – sign up on this page, because demonstrated support from across the country helps us secure funding.

FAQ

Can I bring my monitor / filing cabinet / …?

This space is intended to be very drop-in-friendly, so we won’t be handling reserved desks, at least initially. This is on our radar as something that people might desire if they are using the space consistently, but there are also other spaces nearby that specialize in this, such as Yaletown 209 and The Network Hub.

Every member will receive an access fob that opens the front door and gives access to the space. You will not need to buzz in.

Where can I lock my bike?

The Flack Block building has a secure bike room and separate male and female change rooms, which have showers and lockers.

What if it’s full?

We have space for 20-25 desks, and we hope during this pilot project that the Garage is popular enough to be close to capacity as often as possible. We’ve set up webcams that you can use to check it out before showing up, to avoid arriving to discover that it’s full.